US Citizenship Test Jeopardy

The naturalization civics questions reshaped into a friendly team game for citizenship and ESL classes. Take a copy at no charge; buzz in on any phone.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

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Every clue on this board

This page is public, so anyone can read the answers — copy the board and swap a few clues before game day.

Principles of Democracy

$200
This form of government is one in which power is held by the people, who elect representatives to govern on their behalf.
What is democracy?
$400
This principle holds that government's power comes from the consent of the people, a foundational idea in the Declaration of Independence.
What is popular sovereignty?
$600
This constitutional principle divides government power among three separate branches so that no one branch becomes too powerful.
What is separation of powers?
$800
This system allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches.
What are checks and balances?
$1,000
This principle holds that everyone, including government officials, must obey the law equally.
What is rule of law?

System of Government

$200
This document, adopted in 1787, is the supreme law of the United States and establishes the structure of its federal government.
What is the Constitution?
$400
This is the name of the legislative branch of the US federal government, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
What is Congress?
$600
This branch of government, headed by the president, is responsible for enforcing the nation's laws.
What is the executive branch?
$800
This is the highest court in the United States, made up of justices who serve for life.
What is the Supreme Court?
$1,000
Each state, regardless of its population, elects this many US senators to Congress.
What is two?

Rights and Responsibilities

$200
This is one of the rights protected by the First Amendment, allowing citizens to worship, or not worship, as they choose.
What is freedom of religion?
$400
This civic duty, required of male citizens between certain ages, is administered by the Selective Service System.
What is registering for the Selective Service?
$600
This is the minimum age at which a US citizen becomes eligible to vote in federal elections.
What is eighteen?
$800
This is the term for formally pledging loyalty to the United States, a required step near the end of the naturalization process.
What is the Oath of Allegiance?
$1,000
This civic duty requires eligible citizens to report for possible service on a panel that decides legal cases in court.
What is jury duty?

Colonial and Founding History

$200
This 1776 document declared the thirteen American colonies independent from Great Britain.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
$400
This war, fought from 1775 to 1783, secured American independence from Britain.
What is the American Revolution?
$600
This man commanded the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and became the first US president.
Who is George Washington?
$800
This 1787 meeting in Philadelphia produced the document that replaced the Articles of Confederation with a stronger federal government.
What is the Constitutional Convention?
$1,000
This document, the nation's first, established a loose confederation of states with a weak central government before being replaced in 1789.
What are the Articles of Confederation?

1800s to Modern History

$200
This war, fought from 1861 to 1865, was fought between the Northern and Southern states, largely over slavery.
What is the Civil War?
$400
This 1863 document, issued by President Lincoln, declared enslaved people in the Confederate states to be free.
What is the Emancipation Proclamation?
$600
This 20th-century movement, led in part by Martin Luther King Jr., worked to end racial segregation and secure equal rights for Black Americans.
What is the civil rights movement?
$800
This war, which the United States joined in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, ended in 1945 with the defeat of the Axis powers.
What is World War II?
$1,000
This long period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasting from the late 1940s to 1991, never erupted into direct war between the two powers.
What is the Cold War?

Geography, Symbols, and Holidays

$200
This river, one of the two longest in the United States, flows through or borders ten states on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.
What is the Mississippi River?
$400
This national bird and symbol of the United States appears on the Great Seal.
What is the bald eagle?
$600
This July holiday celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
What is Independence Day?
$800
This ocean forms the eastern border of the continental United States.
What is the Atlantic Ocean?
$1,000
This national holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honors members of the military who died in service.
What is Memorial Day?

Final Jeopardy — The Constitution

Ratified in 1791, the first ten amendments to the US Constitution are known collectively by this name.

What is the Bill of Rights?

How to run this board

Every question on the naturalization civics test comes from a published list, which makes it perfect material for a game board. These categories organize that list: principles of democracy, the system of government, rights and responsibilities, early American history, later American history, and geography with symbols and holidays.

Citizenship instructors and ESL teachers can host it weekly as a progress check. Students answer from their phones, which doubles as practice hearing questions in English under light time pressure.

Keep the mood warm rather than competitive: pause after each answer and let the room repeat it together.

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